NDC's new executives don't scare us – Nana Boahen

The chances of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in winning the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections do not depend on the new executives elected by the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) at its recently-held National Delegates Congress, Nana Obiri Boahen, Deputy General Secretary of the NPP, has said.

According to him, whether or not the NPP will win the 2020 elections depends on the government’s performance in office in relation to the implementation of good policies.

The NDC on Saturday, 17 November elected new executives who will steer the affairs of the party for the next four years.

At the Congress, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo was elected as the new National Chairman.

The former Local Government Minister polled 3,656 votes while his closest contender, Mr Dan Abodakpi, polled 2,199 votes. Alhaji Hudu Yahya garnered 1,823 votes, Betty Mould-Iddrisu managed 355 votes and Danny Anang, a financier of the party had, according to provisional results.

Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia retained his position as General Secretary. Known by his moniker 'General Mosquito', Mr Asiedu Nketia routed his Deputy and only contender in the two-man race, Mr Koku Anyidoho.

Mr Nketia, a three-time former MP for Wenchi West Constituency in the Brong Ahafo Region, from 1993 to 2000, who was first elected as General Secretary in 2008, polled 6,644 while Mr Anyidoho could only manage 1,655 votes.

Mr Sammy Gyamfi also defeated Mr Fred Agbenyo to become the new Director of Communication of the NDC. Mr Gyamfi, a lawyer and former TEIN president of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), beat the incumbent Deputy Communication Director by 4,000 votes.

Mr Gyamfi polled 6,255 votes whereas his only contender in the two-man race, Mr Agbenyo polled 2,255 votes. Over 9,000 votes were cast at the 9th National Annual Congress of the NDC.

Asked whether the new NDC executives were a threat to the NPP, Mr Obiri Boahen told Accra100.5FM’s Ghana Yensom on Monday, 19 November 2018 that: “The chances of the NPP in the 2020 elections do not depend on who has been elected an executive of the NDC. It depends on how the NPP will perform in government and, so, this doesn’t frighten us at all.

“At the end of the day, we will ask whether Ghanaian children were able to attend secondary school free of charge, and the answer will be, ‘yes’. Were we able to provide people with jobs? The answer will be, ‘yes’. These and several others will determine the outcome of the elections in 2020 and not NDC’s executives.”